Teacher dies in crash

AN Arima woman became the second person to be killed on the nation’s roads for the new year after her car slammed into a light pole along the Churchill Roosevelt Highway in Maloney on Friday night.

Fire officers had to use the jaws of life to remove the body of 27-year-old Kersha Tanner—a chemistry teacher—and two other people from inside the Toyota Corolla car.

Police reports stated that around midnight, Tanner, of Mt Pleasant Road, Arima, was driving along the highway when a silver Nissan Frontier collided with the back of her car, causing it to veer off the roadway, mount a median and crash into the light pole.

The Frontier did not stop after the accident but was pursued by police officers along the highway after they received a description of the vehicle. The van was intercepted and the driver detained a short while later.

Up to yesterday evening he was in custody at the Arima Police Station, said investigators.

He is a 25-yeard-old man of Chase Village, Chaguanas.

Police said Tanner was killed instantly while her cousins Toni-Marie Salina, of Green Street, Arima, and her sister Kristy-Marie Salina, of Cocorite Road, Arima, were taken to the Arima District Hospital where they were treated and later transferred to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) in Mt Hope where they remained warded yesterday.

Speaking to the Sunday Express by phone yesterday, one of Tanner’s friends described her as “an amazing and intelligent person who had so many plans for the new year, not just for herself but also for others”.

The friend, who did not want to be named, said Tanner started her job as a chemistry teacher in November last year.

She was also interested in pursuing studies in cancer research and was recently accepted at an international university but decided to turn it down because of her new job, said the friend.

“She was a hard worker, she was a super intelligent person, she was a super loving person. You just don’t know how amazing this woman was,” she said.

Meanwhile, 11-year-old Jenique Charles sustained serious injuries to her pelvis and head after she was hit by a car while attempting to cross the Eastern Main Road, close to Damree Hill, Sangre Grande around 5.40 p.m. on Friday.

The girl, of Blake Avenue, Guaico, Sangre Grande, is a pupil of Guaico Primary School, and was in the process of crossing the roadway when she was struck by a car driven by Jensen Mohammed.

She was taken to the Sangre Grande District Hospital and later transferred to EWMSC.

Mohammed was in custody up to yesterday evening assisting officers with their investigations.

Last Thursday acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams criticised the media for turning a blind eye to the statistics concerning road deaths for this year with only one being reported at that time.

“I have heard nobody engage in discussions about the issue of the roads but if in 2014 we had 20 fatal road traffic accidents the media would have been running me down.

“I am wondering if the media has tracked how many fatal accidents there have been in 2014 as against 2013,” Williams had said.